Let Ahmed go!

I am a fan of Ahmed Maher, who led the April 6 movement that catalyzed the Egyptian uprising in January 2011 and contributed to the Tamarod protests of June 2013 that brought General Sisi to power. Ahmed has remained an advocate of nonviolence, human rights and democracy despite a harsh prison sentence and even harsher prison conditions.

I have Egyptian friends who tell me what Ahmed did–demonstrate without a permit–would be a crime in Washington DC, not only in Cairo. That is true. But the permit would be easy to get, the fine would be small and the sentence a few days in jail, not three years, including large stretches of it in solitary confinement.

Egypt has pardoned and released hundreds of prisoners in recent days, apparently in the runup to now President Sisi’s speech at the UN today. Why not Ahmed and his April 6 comrades? I imagine it is because the government knows they are incorrigible. If released, they can be relied upon to continue protesting for human rights and democracy.

This puts President Obama, who spoke at the UN this morning about the importance of inclusive democracy and human rights as well as the futility of repression, in an awkward situation. Washington wants Egypt to remain at least as stable as it has been under President Sisi. But his use of repression rather than inclusion and respect for human rights is inconsistent with American values, policy and expectations.

A number of us have joined together in a letter to the President and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealing to them to ask President Sisi for the release of the April 6 protesters. Nothing good can come of their continued incarceration. It is time to let Ahmed (and Ahmed and Mohamed) go.